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A LOWER Clarence woman who under-declared her income to Centrelink has been ordered to pay back more than $31,000 to the welfare agency, serving as a reminder for recipients to report their earnings correctly.

Gulmarrad resident Alesha Tippler, 32, pleaded guilty in Grafton Local Court this week to receiving financial advantage from the Commonwealth.

According to court documents, Tipler made four false declarations and 90 false under-declarations in relation to a single parent payment claimed from February 2012 to September 2015.

This resulted in her receiving an additional $31,668.02.

She later went on Newstart and reported she was employed and paid $800 a fortnight, resulting in a Centrelink overpayment of $4692.18.

Court documents showed that after the discrepancies were detected by the ATO in April 2015, Tipler phoned Centrelink and said she was confused about the correct way to declare.

According to the Commonwealth, she continued to under-report her earnings after this period.

In Grafton Court on Tuesday, Tipler was ordered by a magistrate to repay the outstanding amount of $31,370.45, as well as $500 reparations.